Abstract

As emerging technologies become increasingly integrated into everyday life, concerns  surrounding privacy, surveillance, and personal autonomy continue to grow. Artificial  intelligence, data tracking, targeted advertising, and location-monitoring have intensified public  anxieties about the collection and use of personal data. These concerns echo themes explored in  classic dystopian literature, which have long warned of societies where privacy is sacrificed for  security and human identity is reduced to data. Echelon Trust Network explores these anxieties  through a speculative design project that imagines a future in which constant surveillance and  algorithmic trust scoring govern social interactions.  Developed as a motion graphics piece in Adobe After Effects, Echelon Trust Network  presents a fictional product pitch for an augmented reality (AR) trust-scoring system that allows  users to instantly assess the trustworthiness of others through a numerical rating. Framed as a  technological solution to rising uncertainty and social distrust, the system eliminates the need for  personal judgment while subtly encouraging conformity and social control. Through persuasive  corporate branding, interface design, animation, and scripted narration, the project constructs a  believable dystopian world that blurs the boundary between fiction and plausibility.  The project was guided by three primary objectives: crafting a compelling narrative  through effective visual storytelling, demonstrating technical proficiency in motion graphics and  animation, and exploring the possibilities of speculative design as a critical design methodology.  A cohesive visual system consisting of geometric typography, restrained color palettes,  structured interface layouts, and polished animation reinforces themes of standardization,  authority, and the reduction of human identity into quantifiable data.  Ultimately, Echelon Trust Network serves as both a creative exploration of speculative  interface design and a critique of technologies that capitalize on fear, manipulate perception, and  prioritize efficiency over humanity. The project highlights the responsibility designers hold in  shaping public attitudes toward technology and demonstrates how speculative design can be used  to challenge assumptions, provoke discussion, and encourage critical reflection on the future  relationship between technology, privacy, and human agency.

Publication Date

6-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Visual Communication Design (MFA)

Department, Program, or Center

Design, School of

College

College of Art and Design

Advisor

Daniel DeLuna

Advisor/Committee Member

Adam Smith

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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